Our Ocean 2019: Veolia supports advances in knowledge about protecting the oceans

22 Oct. 2019

Every year since 2014, the international Our Ocean conference has been bringing together representatives of governments, industry, associations and research to discuss how to sustainably protect the oceans. In 2019 (23-24 October in Oslo) the importance of knowledge as a foundation for solutions and effective public policies to protect the oceans is being highlighted. Veolia is presenting its commitments and the projects supported by its Foundation.

To ensure clean and healthy oceans, protection and sustainable use go hand in hand. Under threat from the effects of climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and the unsustainable use of resources, safeguarding oceans for future generations is a shared responsibility and a global emergency.

The Veolia Foundation: promoting advances in knowledge about the oceans

In an unprecedented way in the history of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the oceans have finally been identified as a major challenge for climate change: it is a great victory for the Ocean and Climate Platform that the Veolia Foundation has been supporting since its launch in 2014.

Thierry Vandevelde

the Veolia Foundation Executive Officer

This international advocacy network, extensively publicized by Prince Albert II of Monaco, has raised awareness among decision-makers and developed scientific knowledge about ocean-climate interactions.

The Veolia Foundation also supports the research work of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) which lists several solutions for protecting the oceans.

"These actions to advance knowledge about the oceans act as levers that validate our commitment to protecting resources. The IPCC publication demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach."

"The origins of plastic pollution": the new Tara Océan expedition

The Veolia Foundation is supporting this Fondation Tara mission. From June to November 2019, Tara is sailing Europe’s 4 maritime facades and exploring 10 major rivers. The goal is to better understand and control plastic pollution, 80% of which originates on land. The schooner is criss-crossing the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic coast and finally the Mediterranean. The samples taken will measure concentrations locally at the mouth of rivers: the Thames (England), the Elbe and the Rhine (Germany), the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne and the Rhône (France), the Tagus ( Portugal), the Ebro (Spain) and the Tiber (Italy).

Identifying the sources of these flows is essential when putting in place effective public policies to combat ocean pollution.

Veolia acts to protect the seas and oceans

The GIEC report entitled The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate issues a warning

The report anticipates the changes to the climate that will occur by 2100 and their impacts on the seas and oceans: inhabited regions could be submerged and glaciers lose up to 36% of their mass. Sea levels could rise by between 43 and 84 centimetres and submerge regions inhabited by hundreds of millions of people. Worldwide, climate change will bring significant changes to glaciers, permafrost and the oceans. From 2015 to 2100, glaciers will lose 18 to 36% of their mass globally. If greenhouse gases continue to be emitted in quantity, between 49 and 89% of the shallow permafrost could thaw. Human communities will also face the collapse of fish stocks, the degradation of many other ecosystem services, and more intense and frequent cyclones.